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Poll: Catholics Reject Tying Sacraments to Politicians' Positions
WASHINGTON -- As U.S. Catholic bishops meet in Denver under pressure to craft a definitive policy on communion for pro-choice Catholic candidates and parishioners, a new poll demonstrates that Catholics overwhelmingly reject the efforts of some bishops to politicize the sacraments.From June 2-10, the polling firm of Belden Russonello and Stewart surveyed 2,239 Catholics, including 366 Hispanic Catholics. Five questions in the poll addressed the strategies of some bishops to employ sanctions against politicians and pro-choice Catholics.According to those polled:Attempts by conservative Catholic organizations to pressure bishops to deny communion fails to reflect the position of rank- and-file Catholics: 76% disapprove of Catholic bishops denying communion to Catholics who support legal abortion and 78% believe that politicians who are Catholic and who support legal abortion should not be denied communion.Just 16% believe that politicians who are Catholic have a religious obligation to vote on issues the way Catholic bishops recommend; 83% believe there is no religious obligation.Three-fourths (74%) rejected the notion that Catholic voters have a religious obligation to vote against candidates who support legal abortion.When asked how important the views of U.S. Catholic bishops are in deciding whom to vote for, only 7% indicated that the bishops' views were very important, 23% somewhat important, 30% not very important, and a full 40% stated the bishops' views were not important at all in deciding whom they would vote for."Those few bishops who have chosen to use communion as a weapon in America's abortion war have disregarded the long- standing Catholic principles of political freedom and freedom of conscience as they attempt to set forth a new teaching suggesting how one votes on policy measures can be a grave sin," said Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice. "Simultaneously, they are also ignoring the backlash that is likely to occur when they engage in clearly partisan activities. The bishops have little to gain in attacking Catholic candidates and voters, and this poll shows they have much to lose."He added, "Perhaps President Bush would have fared better during his visit with Vatican authorities if he had asked them to urge the U.S. bishops to stay out of partisan politics rather than to more aggressively support the Bush anti-choice agenda."The poll also asked Catholics for their views on key political issues such as the war in Iraq, job creation and whom they would vote for if the election were held today. The complete poll will be released in July. "We wanted to share these very important results regarding the bishops' recent actions while the bishops are still meeting, and we certainly hope that they will listen carefully to the views of the Catholic people," Kissling said."